


The Decline

by markofthemoros



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Beating, Blood and Violence, Captivity, Dehumanization, Gen, Isolation, Loup-garou | Rougarou, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Consensual Touching, Oppression, Pack Dynamics, Tooth Gore, Werewolf Hunters, Werewolf Turning, Whump, Whumptober 2020, non-sexual non con
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markofthemoros/pseuds/markofthemoros
Summary: A Whumptober project with a new loup garou OC. This is pretty much based on the Whumptober prompts - until it isn't anymore and it takes onto its own route. A vent out story with a weak, non-human whumpee. Continuous story. Very self-indulgent, probably not sexy but oh so very whumpy. Vina just doesn't have a happy life, now does he?
Kudos: 2
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	1. The Capture

**Author's Note:**

> Us and them

Vina was careless.

He knew it, he  _ knew _ it!

'Never around humans!'

Vina has heard that since a young age. Since he was still learning to take on the world himself.

But the human had been just a pup! All Vina wanted was to _help_.

The barking turned the corner he just had; Vina grimaced at the shiver and tingles as his flesh went on goosebumps.

_ 'Why is it always dogs?!' _ He hated dogs! Kin of blood-traitors...

Not stopping, Vina stole a peek behind. The dog dashed down the alley after him like possessed. Vina couldn't take it on like this. 

Growling deep in his throat, Vina skidded into a halt mid-sprint. He dropped his weight down, then leaped up and easily flew over the metal fencing. He landed softly on the other side. The dog on his heels jumped up against the metal, small woven squares creaking as the simple-minded creature futilely tried to push through.

A dominant growl made his lips tremble as he pulled them back into an ugly snarl. Standing up, Vina let his fangs protrude a little as he shot the animal a furious glare. The dog's ears pressed against its neck, it let out a long whine and dropped down on all fours. Its tail pressed between its legs as it backed up a bit. Vina snorted at the natural world order. Weak-willed slave!

The low wheeze in the air jerked his head up, but much too late.

"Heagh?!!"

He instinctively threw his arms over his head as collision descended upon him. 

The sudden mass of the rope threw him off his feet. He tumbled face first into it, palms scraping onto the concrete and gravel as he fumbled blindly for any kind of purchase. The fibers on the thick ropes cut and burned his hands, his face, wherever it made skin contact. Gasping out, he tried to push it off his face. His breaths turning strained, Vina tugged his hands into his sleeves and pushed the net up.

It was heavy! A closer look revealed the peculiar way street lamps' light gleamed on the ropes.

Pieces of metal were woven into the rope. Mortified surprise twisted his face, and after a bit of hesitation he carefully pressed his nose onto the weave.

The instant burning had him cower back with a low whine. Blinking away the discomfort, Vina wriggled his nose and tried to rub it onto his shoulder.

Silver. That's a silver-reinforced hunting net.

A burst of adrenaline made each and every well-trained muscle in his body tense. With a cry of soaring panic, he tossed his arms around again.

That was a mistake. He only tangled the net up more.

The scent hit his nose before he heard it. His eyes darted around wildly before landing on a human figure, approaching slowly with a gun trained on him. 

Vina twitched. Another whine trembled in his throat. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand as he scooted backwards, backing away more into the confines of the net.

Others appeared behind her. A creak somewhere over Vina's head drew his eyes up, to the sniper pointing the cold, hard barrel at him with relentless precision.

"Nice..." Someone clasped a hand on the woman's shoulder and patted. "Well tracked, Calla."

Vina's breathing caught. He tried to crawl away when the men and women dressed in biker jackets and padded vests spread around him. "Nono. Ge-get away from me!"

His heart missed a beat when suddenly the world crashed down around him. He landed heavily on his side, tugging at the tangled hand that the silver chips licked like hundreds of tiny cuts had been rained on it.

"Slippery fella."

"Careful now. This one's wanted alive. We lose it, we lose our payday." 

Vina barely noted the agreeing mutters and a rugged 'got it boss' around him; his ear rang! Alive. He knew what that meant. Not the Circus…?! Anything else but that! 

He thrashed and he scratched and he tried to bite the hands grabbing him from four sides, but with the added weight of the net, he was just delaying the inevitable. It was over when he was forced onto his stomach and a knee pressed hard between his shoulder blades. Vina cried out in desperation, a last act of retaliation as his heart plummeted!

Together, the men lifted the net off his head. Victorious cheers rose around the group when someone yanked his knitted cap off, to reveal his coffee brown ears, pressed backwards into the matching hair. Vina's throat burned! 

A hand fisted a good chunk of his locks, to force his head backwards so far Vina was gasping for air. It pulled his lips back, revealing the elongated fangs. Dammit, why didn't he retract them?!

"Wo-hou, look at that, guys! This one's got grit! Well we can't have that, can we?"

"Wa-wait- eagh?!" Vina's plea got lost under a choked up groan when the hand in his hair yanked back sharply, forcing him to choose between saving room for breathing or risking suffocation. He wanted to tell them! Wanted to explain he never, never used them around humans! He wasn't a Rising. He never bit, he wanted nothing to do with their kind!

A pitiful whimper rose from his throat as a metallic tube-like object was pressed over his nose and underneath his mouth. He let out an enraged roar when a clasp came closed behind his head and the metal was tightened snug against his face.

Someone laughed above him. "You don't like that much, now do yo- oho?"

The same voice that had warned the others from killing him cut off abruptly. Vina would have liked to think it was his doing - but not in the sense it appeared to be when his head was cruelly twisted to the side so that his neck crucked.

His eyes slid shut with a grossed out shiver when fingers brushed a stiffer tuft of hairs behind his pointed ear.

"Well blimey..."

Vina wanted to curse! He wanted to scream and rave and howl at the foul two-leg to  _ stop touching him _ ! The human had no right! That was an honor, a privilege reserved for intimacy between mates! Vina whimpered in disgust as the man on top of him obliviously continued to turn his hairs around as he studied him.

"Pez? Call the Secretary. Tell them the price just went up."

"What's happening?" asked the young woman who had first approached him, Calla.

Vina let out a mortified groan as the man pulled his ear flat to the side, to show his discovery.

"See these longer hairs here? Like those little tufts lynxes have on theirs?" Vina squirmed in the hold with growing repulsion. "See how they shimmer with a golden hue?"

"Uh-huh."

"This one's a beta. Or higher." Blood froze in Vina's veins as his birthright was announced to these primitive creatures like it was public news.

Indifferent to his anguish, Calla wondered:

"What's that mean?"

The man took his time. His voice dripped honey when he finally spoke:

"That means, sweetheart, that we have in our hands what's essentially loup-garou royalty."

A brief moment when the news sank in amongst the hunter group was filled with the terrified whine trembling in Vina's throat.

Then someone started:

"Holy shit! For real? This sod?!"

"Hahaha! Bang on, baby! Let's call it a cashing day." An ugly round-faced man with narrow eyes and a red mohawk rubbed his fingers together before throwing a high five with someone.

Vina couldn't watch. It was already humiliating enough. To be held like this, touched like this, be treated like prey when he was supposed to be the hunter. Dishonorable delinquents! No loup-garou with any sense of self-respect would ever treat their catch like this. Like a plaything. They would end it quickly, it often didn't take but a single snap. Killing in the name of Hunger. As was the natural world order. This... charade, it was distinctly human! It turned his stomach.

Together, the group peeled the net off him enough to force his hands behind his back where hot metal closed around them and locked them in place, one crossed over the other, just above the curve of his behind.

His entire body tensed at the intense burning sensation that started to seep deeper. He gasped out, was soon whimpering when the silver lining seared his skin.

It was tight, too tight to transform. It was fitted for this human form's slimmer physique. As long as those stayed, Vina was trapped in this form!

He pressed his head to the ground when the pain started to get unbearable; tears rose in his eyes at the stench of burning flesh and fur! He tugged against the cuffs desperately but the position gave him no leverage. It was weak, pointless and over much too soon when the hunters decided it was time to gather their game.

Vina's struggling and attempts at retaliation were quickly snuffed out by the muzzle and the hands that pulled him on his feet and forced him to walk. Distracted by the terror and the pain of the shackles, Vina noted only too late what was happening.

The door slid aside, there was a crude shove and a sudden spike of pain when he hit his knee onto the ledge. The little light of the street lamps disappeared from his eyes. Only when the doomsday crunk signified his hell to having opened did it register in full just how utterly, completely helpless he was. Stripped of his fangs, his claws, his dignity, Vina stared down into the dark abyss where hundreds of loup-garou carcasses paved the spiraling steps down, and where he would soon be joining his kin.


	2. The Collar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's too tight!

The drive could have lasted for days, for all the Vina could tell. His sense of time was gone, feeling was gone, hope was gone. Replaced with the bone-deep dread of his inevitable fate, and the unspeakable pain that was the silver punishing his being every moment of this nightmare.

He had been crying for a while when the wetness running down his cheeks registered. Preoccupied as his pained mind was, something as mundane as tears made little difference.

It mixed into the blood and stung his already aching cheek when Vina had chafed the skin of his cheek raw trying to nudge the muzzle off. All he had managed was to hurt himself further, and the freshly opened flesh now throbbed raw against the metal ring.

His torn state welled up inside even more when the vehicle eventually came to a stop, and someone cut off the engine. Doors opened, slammed shut again, and steps rounded the van to the side door.

A part of him didn't want it to open. That part was getting used to this pain, growing familiar with it. That part would have wanted to stay in this darkness, bear this pain and wither. At least this he thought he knew now. It was searing, it slowly bore through his defenses to his core and carved its cruel mark there. But this wouldn't get any worse. Once that door opened, there were myriads and myriads of ways how they could turn his life into a living, breathing hell.

Vina didn't have a say in the matter, though.

He flinched at the harsh artificial light piercing through the long dark all of a sudden. He whined deep down his throat as he pulled himself more into a ball on the van floor.

Pillars of shadow stepped before the light, one of them shielding his face somewhat, and with another whine, Vina cracked one eye open to look at them.

The big one hopped onto the van, came closer, oblivious or just ignoring the severe danger approaching someone like Vina posed on them. Stupid two-leg! If only he had his hands...

But he didn't. And the man didn't even blink an eye at the pressed ears and the wary growl rumbling in the loup-garou's throat. He crouched down next to him, and Vina's ears twitched at the disclosed evaluation with which the two-leg eyed him.

"Get up then, mutt."

Vina grumbled at the insult. How dared he to compare him to a dog?! His lips fluttered with the growl, and his ears stood erect and moved to the sides slightly.

The human only scoffed. "Of course you would." Then, a huge hand shot out, fingers boldly gripping the long nose of his muzzle. Vina didn't even have the time to react before the metal and the straps locking the contraption to its place already dug into his skin.

"I said, get up."

"Nngh!" Gasping through his nose, Vina scrambled to pull his legs under himself and shakily got up with the man as he forcefully pulled at his face.

Two others got on board to take him out. The obnoxious red mohawk and another guy wearing a combat vest. All looked seasoned, in human years and their kills. Vina bared his teeth at them what little he could, but the redhead simply chuckled and smacked the back of his head, eliciting a pained yelp.

"Whatever you say, furrball."

He shot the human a glare, but it fell short as he was shoved forward again.

Looking around, Vina's ears pressed down along his head, though. A frightened whine rose out.

It was some kind of a warehouse. Or a bunker, there weren't any windows. Rows of sturdy metal cages about one by two meters and coming up to waist level were bolted into the floor. The silvery shine gleamed cold fire on the two inch thick bars.

Vina whined again, a more pup-like sound. Interrupted, with slightly rising pitch.

Rusted shackles, bear traps, tattered wolf pelts hung from the walls: the whole room smelled like dirt and old blood. Vina grimaced at the layers of suffering and death wafting into his nose. He snuffed out hard a few times and tried to breathe through the mouth, but the smells were too much to ignore.

How many of his kin had died here before him?

One of the men, the one who seemed to be the head around here, had been studying the loup-garou's reactions like a hawk. Vina squirmed against the agonizing restraints when he boldly raised a hand and scratched behind his ear.

"As you can see, mutt, you're not the first one. Nor the last. I have broken down and disciplined your kind for the past 26 years, and I'm not going to stop so long that," the man drew a cross, "-God allows my legs to hold and my guns to fire."

Heavy iron rings were sunken into the concrete, another two onto a steel-reinforced wall next to it. Vina's insides twisted at what hung from one of them. He reared in the hold, bucked his weight against them with a long howl of disdain, turned muffled by the muzzle and lack of air.

"Nnnho-! Noo! Haannooh!"

He wasn't a dog! He won't wear that!

He flinched when someone smacked him again.

"Haha! I don't think he likes it, boss."

"It's a wild beast, Brody, what did you expect?"

Vina didn't pay them heed. His attempts to break free turned all the more frantic. He pulled ferociously against the silver shackles, ignoring the now renewed scorching for which he was already growing somewhat acquainted. The torturous burning lit his arms up anew, fueling his panic that urged him to rise up and fight!

He groaned in frustration and anger when strong press on the back of his knee forced his knee to give out. The mass of three human men on him was too much for the other when they together fought him down to the floor.

It wouldn't stop Vina from thrashing, rearing, trying to throw them off and get up. He thrashed even more when a presence drifted farther away, and soon the metallic rattling of a chain moved towards him.

He whined long and loud when his head was cruelly held still by three hands, two of them gripping his hair, one forcing his face up with the muzzle. His ears pressed down, abhorred shudders raking up and down his back when the metal scraped his neck. His lips fluttered with a choked-up growl, but the muzzle gave him barely any room to open his jaws.

Cold, hard tightness drew a pitiful whimper out of him when the collar closed around his neck and latched locked. Three rapid beeps and a low whirring sound, just odd enough for his ear to twitch towards the noise before the offending hands disappeared one by one.

Not wasting time on considering the implications, Vina immediately turned his face as far to the side as he could and started nudging his chin to the edge of the collar. He let out a long whine when the metal wouldn't budge.

The hunters' laughs snapped him out of it somehow. As if to spite them, Vina nudged one more time for show before pressed his head between his shoulders and turned to growl quietly at them. His ears turned wildly from the side to the front, but drooped slightly. Behind his back, his fists clenched and unclenched in the hellish restraints, trembling with the burning each twitch brought.

The boss man flashed a dirty grin. Without even batting an eye at the captive's discomfort, he crouched down to be at eye level with Vina, who withdrew into the wall. The hunter didn't stop him, simply cocked his head, eyeing him with interest.

"You think this demeaning? Don't get me wrong, mutt. I know what your kind are capable of. I've seen the likes of you bite off their own limbs into nothing but stubs in order to escape chains." Vina tried to snap at the hand reaching out, but the damn muzzle simply knocked it aside a bit before the metal grating was gripped firmly to hold him still, and the boss tapped two fingers against the shining black collar sitting around his neck, connecting him to the wall. "This here though. I make you a deal, mutt. If you somehow manage to cut out from this and live, you're free to go."

Simply the tone he said it with left little room for second-guessing: Vina wouldn't have a chance, not with the way it rested against his skin, just above the junction of his neck and shoulders. It would be too dangerous to be the wolf, he would have the collar too tight and strangle himself; it left little room to wiggle around either. Vina growled lowly at the man, but his pained desperation sheening through made it come off just pathetic and weak.

Just like they wanted.

His growl changed into a small whine. Vina's ears came down, so did his head. He let himself slump forward a bit.

Someone chuckled; Vina's ear twitched at a muttered 'bitch' towards the main group. But the master hunter paid them no heed. He studied Vina like he was trying to read if his body language was sincere.

"Turn around and hold still."

Vina's ears shot back up, then one turned to the side and dropped cautiously.

"Turn around if you want those jewels off you. Your call."

The instinct would tell him not to trust him. This was a human hunter, everything he said or did was to be for his downfall one way or another. And yet...the temptation to be relieved of this constant agony was overbearing! Vina swallowed hard, then scooted around on the floor, to turn his back to the enemy, and pressed his head low. He was breathing heavily through his nose, the stench of the fates of others painted before him a grim canvas of carnage and cruelty. He had to hold back a whimper when shuffles came close.

He could spin around as soon as he had his hands. He could slash and tear and punch through flesh until his claws closed around the man's spine and pull!

He didn't. Vina swallowed hard. His breath caught entirely when the man's scent came right behind him, and his joined wrists were lifted a bit. They didn't come off though. Instead, there were slow beeps.

"Five secs started, boss."

Vina grunted out in distaste when the man patted a hand on his head and left it there. "I bet you thought you would gut me where I'm standing, mutt."

Vina's ears rose at the exactness of those words.

"Two!"

Grunting, the man pressed on Vina's head hard to take support as he stood up with a heavy huff. He tousled the captive's hair, eliciting a groan of disgust before sauntering backwards and crossing his arms as the timer came down.

The shackles snapped open and clanked on the floor. As soon as his hands were free, Vina spun around on the floor and cradled them to his chest and leaned over them. He pulled his legs up a bit for added protection, flimsy as it was in the situation, but it calmed him a bit at least.

With a shaky exhale, he looked down.

His wrists were on burgundy and angry red burned mar, clear liquid glistened on the wounds. Here and there, skin had flyed off and rolled up where the edge of the shackles had raked against it repeatedly. Vina breathed out a weak sob. They hurt, and looked worse than he had thought! He, he would probably scar?!

The hunters watched him shield himself with mixed feelings. Brody huffed out. "You guys sure this is the real thing? I've never seen a wolf so mellow."

"Hmm. And I have never seen a beta estranged from its pack. I say we're onto something here."

"You think they're going to be impressed?"

The leader looked like he was pondering the same question. "We'll see. Feed it and leave it for the night." The last words were said a little louder, directed at the captive who had been feigning ignorance but his ears had been pointed towards them:

"We'll talk more in the morning."

With almost bored 'got it bosses' and jeered good nights thrown out at Vina, the group disbanded one by one, leaving Vina to tug at the collar around his neck fruitlessly when no bump on the smooth ring hinted at a lock and the chain attached to it blended seamlessly with the whole.


	3. Manhandling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I swore I'd never use them. I failed.

Vina's nose scrunched, he sniffled with a small shiver. The lingering aroma of his meager meal of chicken drumsticks last night still wafted in the air, but it wasn't enough to drown out the years worth of grime.

He smacked his mouth a few times to treasure the taste. His ears twitched.

"Nnh-!" Groaning softly, the loup-garou stretched his limbs. The chain hadn't allowed but two feet of leeway. Not enough to lay down, so he had to make do with sitting against the wall.

A soft whine peeped in the back of his throat as Vina dropped a sad look at his mauled wrists. Licking them had helped only so much. The skin was so raw he couldn't go on for long before his tongue scratched the already inflamed skin bloody. At least they weren't suppurating anymore. His ears drooped at the sides.

They perked up again, one of them flying towards the door, followed by the rest of his head when approaching noise of boots and chatter penetrated his temporary respite. His lips pulled back into a snarl but he kept his fangs in for now. He didn't want to give them any reason.

The head hunter raised his hand for a greeting as he and three others pushed apart two sliding doors. Warm daylight flooded inside and Vina’s nose twitched at the scent of fish and salt wafting inside. Was that a seagull?

“Good morning! Did you sleep well?” Vina simply scowled and revealed a bit more of pearly white teeth. The man chuckled. “That a no then?”

Ignoring the jeer, Vina’s eyes dropped lower. To the gleam of metal in his right hand, and his ears pressed down with a small, withheld whine at the conjoined line of metal rings protruding on the outside of the man’s knuckles.

That didn’t escape the man’s attention. He gave the brass knuckles an admiring look. “This one’s my favorite. Firm enough to break a man’s jaw in a single blow. But you, I believe it’s going to feel all the more unpleasant to you.” He turned his palm around to show it to Vina. “Silver coating. I’m afraid the metal’s not sturdy enough to use as a stand-alone, and frankly would cost me more than you lot are worth…” he held a pause, watching for the reaction. “But does the trick.”

Vina swallowed down the whine that threatened to rise. “What do you all want with me?!”

The hunters exchanged looks and chuckled among themselves. Two of them, Brody and the woman introduced as Cally paced to both sides of him. Both were armed, but while Brody merely rested his crossbow on his shoulder, Cally trained the pistol at him at once, a tight look on her face that warned Vina from making a single mistake. The loup-garou gave her a growl in return, which was only met with her pulling back the hammer.

“Easy, Calla,” the master hunter raised a hand at her, who gave him a brief look before took her finger off the trigger. Instead, the man picked up a chair by its backrest and made a small show of walking within a meter from the bound loup-garou and sat down with an exaggerated sigh. Vina pressed his head between his shoulders, his ears were towards his back.

“So then? What’s your real name?”

What should he do? Like this Vina was outnumbered, out-gunned, out-done as far as this damn collar kept him stuck in this skin. Maybe just going with it would keep them happy for now. “Ilya? Ilya Agapov.”

Pain exploded behind his eyes before the burning registered. Vina’s head flew to the side, a dull ache scraped his other cheek grinding against the wall. The hunter’s fingers entwined in his hair and he slammed Vina’s head to the metal again and pressed.

“Not that!”

Vina’s moan of pain when he was yanked back pitched quickly and changed for brief, panicked whimpers when the vicious lick of the brass knuckles pressed under his jaw.

“The name your pack calls you.”

Vina’s instinctive reaction was to stretch his neck as his ears pressed down with a submissive whine. It only gave the brand more room to sink in, and the pain kicked in other instincts. “Get off!”

His fangs protruded as his hand flew across his body. With a cry of adrenaline, Vina tucked his head in as the burning disappeared. Only then did it dawn on him that his wasn’t the only scream.

The hunter commander staggered backwards a couple of steps, his features twisted into a grimace. He pulled his hand away from his upper arm, and the sweet tang hit Vina’s nose.

“Hey, hey, HEY!” Brody’s shout rose in volume as he lowered the crossbow into position.

The hunter’s grimace sharpened into rage. “Well now. And here you almost had me thinking there wasn’t any wolf left in you at all.”

Vina shoved his bloodied claws behind his back and pressed his body against the wall. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean…!”

Before he had time to explain -that he didn’t mean to hurt him, that he simply panicked- the man leaped forward. Vina howled out as his head hit the metal wall. His nose made an ugly cruck, and the smell of blood suddenly engulfed Vina’s entire world. The hunter pressed harder, rolling his elbow over the broken bone, and Vina screamed like the damned were tearing his soul apart. He clawed at the floor with his free hand, desperately looking for any purchase, any distraction from the pain. And all the while, he trapped his other hand between himself and the wall, stopping himself from hurting the human. It wasn’t to sate his Hunger, it wasn’t right! It would simply give them an excuse.

He refused to go with it! He always had.

The hunter swept his bloodied hand over his nose, drawing three clear and one faint dash of crimson over the bridge and his cheek. His eyes now blazing with more than just purpose, he bent down to grab Vina by the hair again, and hauled the thrashing form up from the floor.

His air was slammed out of him when Vina’s back met the metal, hard. His teeth grit almost painfully when the silver again pressed against his neck. A low keen struggled up his tight throat.

The hunter’s harsh chuckle sent shivers down Vina’s spine. “Hehe. Well then, let’s try that again.”


	4. Caged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Human-clad monster

Vina’s ears rang. Human and loup-garou alike, it seemed. The static, high-pitched beep in them was grinding on his nerves.

Coldness rose from the floor, seeped into his flesh wherever it found unprotected skin to spread its ghastly promise that it was coming for him. Vina wouldn’t have to hurry, it would wait for him. Wait for him to be one with it: as cold and as motionless, nothing but a body without the warmth of life in it anymore.

Air wheezed in his mouth as it pushed in through the too tight ring of the collar. His exhale changed for weak sputters as blood trickled from his collapsed nasal cavities into his throat. A low whimper rolled in his chest but it was almost too faint to hear.

Above him, the hunter commander swept his brow with a heavy huff. Panting himself, he brushed his sweat-soaked hair out of his face. “Phew! Haha! Not bad, mutt. It’s been a while since I got to work up some sweat with you lot.” 

As Vina’s reply was nothing but a croak and a flop of his ear turning towards the voice, the man crouched down, next to the bent body of a young human man as the collar forced his head up from the floor. He eyed the captive’s weak attempts to raise himself without remorse, pale blue eyes frosty with hate for the abomination. 

He didn’t doubt that its agony wasn’t genuine; but even after he broke its nose, probably smashed a cheekbone somewhere under the partially burned mulch the left side of its face has turned into, he still hadn’t gotten the name. The mongrel had stubbornly clung onto the adapted name it has come to call itself whilst hiding amongst humanity. 

He shouldn’t be surprised. This was a wild beast, grafted by demons to wear the face of a man but harbor the carnage of an animal. But how mellow this one has been so far, it seemed he had come to expect too much too soon.

His brows furrowed a little and he reached down to grab the wolf’s ear protruding from the filthy mat of tangled hair. Ignoring the protesting yelp and the twitching of the ear, he turned it, to stretch it almost too far, to force the loup-garou to raise its head. Two dark amber eyes swam under heavy lids before settling to look at him. The hunter’s arm throbbed steadily with the evening beat of his heart.

It apologized. Why? Why would a wolf feel sorry for a human? Was it trying to play with him?

With calculated patience, he pulled the ear further. Vina’s cry shook as he scrambled to follow along. “What’s a beta doing alone on the street, huh? Where’s your pack?”

All he got as a reply was a sad sob when the captive’s hand slipped on the blood and the ear jerked in his hold. It tried weakly to reach up, but the hunter commander snatched the maimed wrist, and using the spike of pain, he shoved it back down and pinned it to the floor with his knee.

“I asked you a question. But it seems you’re not so eager to answer.” He pulled on the ear again, a cold grin cracking up on his lips at the rising whine. “What are you doing away from your pack?”

Vina’s eyes rolled back to the floor and he whined, his ear twitching in the hold as he tried to push himself up. But no answer.

Rage blew up in the hunter. Still trapping Vina’s hand, he shoved his head against the wall, treasuring the howl of pain that died into another whine as the captive’s body convulsed. When he didn’t seem to get out anything more than gurgles, the hunter scoffed and cleared his throat. The loup-garou barely reacted when the spittle hit its face.

The man bent low, to whisper poison into its ear: “You disgust me, beast. But at least you’re learning your rightful place.” 

With that, he let Vina’s head slump, choking him again as the collar cut off his airway. Coughing and gasping, it barely registered that the man got back up. That’s why he was unprepared when the blow came. It made Vina see stars again, the blood-stained floor blending into a murky, apocalyptic fog.

It was only distantly that he heard the commands to open something up before someone was upon him again. Vina’s head swam as hands grabbed him everywhere, pulling at his strained limbs. Dizzy with pain and fear, he only managed a weak protest and even that was soon cut off when something beeped for long, pitched and very close. Then, the strangling pressure around his neck first hit his back painfully, followed by a loud clang that made him wince and cower.

Floor slipped by him; something tugged at his legs. They felt heavy. Vina blinked, desperate for something to make sense to him. That something being the metallic gleam when light hit the bars just right. Vina’s throat trembled.

“Nnoh..n-no. No, nono...hnn!”

His plea fell on deaf ears. Vina tried to tug on his arms to halt them, to fight, to escape, but he was too dazed to summon the strength as he was unceremoniously shoved inside the cage that wasn’t high enough for him to even sit up. Another harsh push for his legs before the hydraulic hiss roused him back just enough to witness the hatch slide shut. Unable to watch, Vina pressed his face into his hand as the shimmer of silver everywhere was beginning to make him nauseous already. The firm hairs behind his ears stood up, wild tremors that weren’t simply residual chokes wreaked havoc on his spine.

It was on the seventh or eight gasp that he realized the pressure around his neck was gone.

The hunter commander chuckled as he crouched down to look at him. He slammed his hand on the roof of the cage a couple times, smirking at the submissive way the wolf’s ears pressed back against his head. “Comfortable? I somehow doubt it. It’s reinforced steel, buddy. Silver coating. Design-made for you lot. If I’m right, you should start to feel it.”

Even as he talked, he could see his answer in the way the loup-garou’s rib cage trembled. Expanding and retracting slightly, only to widen up more on the next convulse, the veteran hunter’s grin dimmed. The rest of the wolf’s body followed suit. Fabric tore up, giving way to power stronger than a simple weave, the man’s limbs pressed back into his body. It was like flesh had decided to move elsewhere, to instead make up firm sides revealing unnaturally wide torso, hip bone that protruded higher up than a human’s. Knee caps popped around with a stomach-turning cruck that didn’t seem to hurt the man inside, fur starting to appear like his hair had suddenly become wild.

All the while, Vina trembled, fighting the sickness that being surrounded by this much silver stirred up in him. It got into his mouth and made him gag; he instinctively scooted away from the bars, only to end up a bit closer to the other side. The cage was hardly long enough to stretch out, much less to find a better position. His skin crawled like at any moment, the threatening metal would just clamp against him from all sides and scorch him alive. He sniffled the air as his snout grew out, the stench of blood and adrenaline making him growl out in disgust. His lips drew back and downwards, cracking open just enough for the hurt mewl to slip out.

Snorting like this was the exact reaction he had been waiting for, the hunter cocked his head.”Look at you,” he mused out in astonishment at the beautiful spots of toffee and champagne mixing into the coffee color. “That’s a handsome coat you’ve got there. Maybe we should just kill you and take that pelt instead of selling you out to the Circus. What do you say? Would save us a lot of time. You have any idea what they’re paying for an alpha class pelt?”

He got no reply other than the wolf to drag its paws under itself in the middle of the scraps of ruined clothes and turning its head away with a heavy huff. The abrasion of the human was still somewhat visible under the fur, and here and there, the wolf’s coat glistened. Laughing at the weak display, he patted the cage again. “Make yourself comfortable in there, mutt.”

Out of their view, small streaks of water squeezed out from the wolf’s eyes with a small whimper of discomfort.


	5. Stop, please!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It takes more than courage to stand behind your words.

'So you think it's ok?!'

'We're not attacking the miners. We're not having this conversation, Lyuda.' The irritated buzz of his comrades rolled over him.

'We're never having this conversation! Can't you at least listen, Vina?!' a light grey wolf smaller than Vina patted her front paws on the ground angrily.

'Or that's it?' a blueish black male with cream-colored tufts in his ears and snout got up and stepped a bit between the two. He didn't hesitate to face the beta. 'We're just going to sit here and wait until the humans decide to move their construction farther inland?'

'We don't know that.'

'It seems to us that you know a great deal,' the dark male's ears stood forward. 'To be so confident that the two-legs aren't going to just march over and slaughter the entire pack?'

A light growl rumbled in Vina's throat. His ear stood pointed too, tail raising. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You oughta know, if you listened to a single thing we're trying to tell you. The pack's afraid.'

'Mio is right, Vina! Can't you feel us?!'

Vina barked sharply. 'Provoking the humans will only result in bloodshed!' He started to pace around the others. Lyuda pressed her ears down and curved her back a bit in submission - but the male wouldn't back down in front of the beta's authority. An electrified tremor mixed into the pack's connected feelings. Vina's ears turned towards the back.

'And what do you think is going to happen if we do nothing? We let the two-legs drive us from our hunting grounds and just accept it?' the black wolf named Mio lowered his head a bit, lips pulling back to show teeth.

'Of course not!'

'Then what are you gonna do about it, knyaz?!' Mio barked and thumped his front legs to the ground a couple times, but there was nothing playful about the gesture. 'We're all looking up to the beta to protect the pack.’ His tail rose. ‘And if he can't do it, I say we should have a new beta.'

Multiple voices, human and beast alike, exploded in the background of Vina's mind. He could feel the alpha pair's anxiousness and torn resolve between their closeness to him and the demand to honor their ancient practice. The pack, some in their human guise but most resting around as wolves began to gather closer. The air and everyone’s hearts sang with nervous excitement. Would the alpha allow this? 

All the while, Mio stared Vina down, his ears attentively pointed forward and slightly curled and ready to pounce.

Vina felt more so than heard his father sitting down on the boulder overlooking the small clearance the pack had made residence. Standing down. Permitting this. His heart thrummed, it probably bled over to the others.

'A trial for the claim has been called. And I will not stand in the way of this challenge. Fair enough, Miolof. If you best him in battle, you will take my offspring's place as the beta.' Mio's snarl widened. 'Whatever shall come to pass, will. The challenge remains until one of you yields, or dies.'

Hairs on the back of Vina's neck stood. For Mio to dare to defy him! His blood boiled with the pack's rising energy. A low growl rumbled in his throat as he bared his fangs and crouched down too.

'I thought you had my back.'

'I did. This is for the good of all of us, Vina! Show us you've got what it takes. Show us you're the beta we deserve!' Mio's voice snarled before the black wolf leaped forward, his ears pulled back and jaws wide.

By strength, it should have been a fair fight. Both wolves jumped against each other ferociously, they tore and they bit. But Mio had something Vina simply didn't. His eyes blazed with deep-rooted determination and disquiet. His soul burned with the frenzy of the fight.

Vina didn't know what he was fighting for but his own survival. He was playing time, trying to wear the other out and avoid being bested.

That difference became his downfall. When Mio pushed him against a boulder and sank his fangs to his neck, it wasn't because Vina was weaker.

Mio simply wanted this more.

'Fight me, Vina! Show me what you really are!' There was urgency in Mio's thought as the jaws bit down. 

Vina's ears drew down with a howl of pain and he clawed the stone in panic for some leverage to throw the other off.

'Mio, enough! Stop it, he's gonna choke!' Lyuda paced nervously on the spot, a long whine rising from her.

'What's the matter with you?! Fight me!'

Vina's tongue hung out long; his panting was rapid but hardly reached his lungs. With his last, he stretched his neck long, let his lips slide over his teeth, and whined.

It went unheard. Mio growled into his ear as he jostled him, and Vina was sure if his eyes were open, they would swim with the pain and his air being squeezed out of him. He didn't feel his paws anymore.

'Mio!'

There was a sharp yelp as something collided heavily with the wolf on top of him. Vina dropped down to the ground, his tongue out long as he gasped for air. Heavily, he turned around, to take in the feral sight of the crouched form of Lyuda as she growled feral at Miolof.

'Stop, please! Can't you see he yielded?!'

Miolof's bark sounded off. Like someone had just smacked him with a fish.

'Enough!' Lyuda licked her snout as she stood up, letting her ears fall to the sides. Then, she stepped a bit away from Vina and turned to look at him. Her voice was sad. 'I think this's clear.'

It was clear. All around, Vina could feel the conflict stirring among the pack. Here and there, some threw low growls at him already, stalking closer but Vina could feel their hesitation. Many in the pack were young, they have never witnessed something like this. Their confusion and despair washed over him like a river! It mixed into his own growing panic as what this entailed sinked in.

'Everyone…?! I-I...you, you can't!'

Miolof's ears drooped to the sides like he couldn't believe this. He stepped closer with almost solemn air to his trot, his surprise and disappointment seeping into Vina's mind. He really hadn't thought he would win! He hadn’t wanted to. He had just wanted Vina to show what he’s really made of. He, he hadn’t wanted to...

'It is decided,' the alpha's voice rang in all of their minds. 'As of now, I no longer have an offspring for you all to look up to.' Short yips of a whine rang out somewhere equally loudly. 'It is with a heavy heart that I say this. You are the winner, Miolof. Vina did yield. How you choose to expel him is your right to determine.'

With that, the alpha turned his head from the scene, having said all he could in the situation. He laid down next to his spouse who had also turned her back to the rest of them. Their sorrow and grief welled up in all of their chest like a communal cancer. 

But it wouldn’t change anything. It was in the moment when the alpha permitted this that he chose to take this chance. But he didn't want to see this outcome. His father’s emotions hit against Vina's mind like repeated whiplashes.

One by one, even the few who had observed in their human guise took on their wolfskins, and more or less reluctantly joined the compressing lines behind their new beta. Lyuda was among them, her ears pressed submissively like everyone else's, eyes downcast, and she kept to the back of the pack. But no-one moved any closer to Vina, who got up on his feet, tail between his legs and a frightened whine fluttering his lips.

Miolof's voice was dark as he finally raised his head and bared his teeth again. 'You're not fit to guard us. You've betrayed us.' 

Vina backed up, whimpering at the rising controversy floating all around them.

'Run, Vina. You're not one of us anymore. You're not welcome to hunt on these lands anymore.'

'Mio, please…!'

'The law is the law, Vina! If you had respected yours to begin with, we wouldn't be here!' There was pain behind Miolof's anger; he barked sharply. 'Get out of here! I expel you from the pack. From here on, you’re a stranger to these lands and not welcome to join us for the Hunt. I let you walk out in peace, Vina. Let it be my token of appreciation for you. From now on, you’re an outlander.'

Miolof stalked forward, his fangs bared. A few more followed, driven by their instincts rather than their hearts that Vina could still feel breaking, even though he could tell the connection was becoming undone already. With no other choice and no other parting gift than a growing hollow where the emotions of his comrades should have been, Vina spun around - and ran.

He ran despite his tears almost blinding him. Ran even though he could no longer hear the pursuers on his heel. Ran out of air as he wasted his last on a long whine of anguish and grief when the familiar connection with his pack stretched narrower and narrower before he couldn't sense them anymore.

The rising howls in his wake, he ran, confident that he could make out the voices of his parents the loudest in the Long Cry, and didn't stop as he raised his own voice to join theirs one last time.


End file.
